


Raising an Angel

by myladyrose



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Growing Up, Human Castiel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 07:24:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/619562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myladyrose/pseuds/myladyrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean find out that Castiel has become a baby. They must take care of him as he quickly grows up in order to fully become human and as he gives his grace to have a soul of his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Raising an Angel

 

 

The sound of wings quickly got the boys’ attention. Dean stood up expecting to see the face of his dear friend. His heart sank, however, as soon as he looked around. The angel he had met once before, Samandriel, stood before the two hunters holding a small bundle.

“Hello, Sam, Dean,” Samandriel said kindly.

“Hey, uh, Alfie, was it?” Dean replied, disappointment clear in his voice. Sam looked from his brother to the angel, unsure of when they had met, until he remembered seeing him at the auction.

“What’s the problem? I’m sure you came here for a reason, right?” Dean asked.

“Don’t worry, there’s no problem. I came here for a delivery actually,” the young angel said with a warm smile. The Winchesters exchanged looks of confusion before they both looked back at the angel, waiting for some kind of explanation. Samandriel did not speak, but instead handed the small bundle to Dean with great care. Dean took it into his arms and his eyes widened when he looked inside the layers of cloth and blankets.

Sam looked over and his jaw nearly dropped. “Why are you giving us a baby?”

Samandriel smiled, “Because we want you to take care of him.”

“Look, I appreciate the offer, but we are not fit to take care of a kid. Especially not a kid delivered by an angel. You should probably pick better suited parents,” Dean said as he extended his arms out to return the child back into Samandriel’s arms.

“Yeah, its way too dangerous for the child and it just would not work out,” Sam added.

“You don’t understand though, it had to be you guys,” Samandriel insisted. Dean looked back down at the baby in his arms. He did not understand why he would ever be given the responsibility of taking care of a baby, especially in a scenario like this. Angels did not just hand out kids to hunters with drinking problems. It wasn’t until the tiny child woke up that Dean understood. As soon as those blue eyes locked onto his there was no doubt in his mind.

“I’m sure you can choose another-” Sam started to say.

“We’ll take him.”

Sam turned to Dean in shock, his eyes wide and his mouth open, though he did not say a word. The angel smiled.

“I’m glad. I’m sure you will take good care of him,” he said.

“I’ll definitely try anyways, can’t say I’m father material though,” Dean replied with a small smile.

“You may be more cut out for it than you think,” Samandriel said, “But, if you do need assistance for anything, you can call for me. My name is Samandriel.”

“Will do, Alfie,” Dean chuckled. Samandriel gave another quick smile and disappeared from the room. Silence followed until Sam finally asked the question that kept ringing in his mind.

“Dean, what’s going on? Why did you agree to take care of this baby?”

“Because it’s not just some random baby, Sammy, it’s Cas.”

\--

“Wait- you’re telling me this is Cas?” Sam asked, doubt in his voice. “How do you know? And why on Earth would it be Cas? It doesn’t make any sense, Dean!”

“I can just tell. As soon as he looked at me, I don’t know, man, I just knew it was him!”

“But why would he be a baby? And why would we need to take care of him?”

“You think I know?”

Sam ran his fingers through his hair over and over as he paced around the small motel room. “And how are supposed to know how to take care of a baby angel?”

“Maybe he’s not an angel anymore.”

“What?”

“Think about it, Sam. Maybe something happened to him. Maybe he’s been, I don’t know, reborn as a human and that’s why Samandriel gave him to us. They can’t raise a human kid so they gave him to the only other people in the world that are his family. Sure, it might be weird, but I think we’ve been involved in weirder.”

Sam thought about it and stayed quiet. It’s true that it is a strange, actually a very strange, turn of events, but it’s also true that they have been through stranger ones. He walked over to Dean, who was still holding the baby Cas in his arms, and looked into the small bundle of blankets. Castiel looked at Sam as soon as he was in view. He was not as certain as his brother, but he agreed that something just seemed familiar about his child, so he trusted Dean was right. Now the only problem was how are they going to take care of him?

\--

Dean sat on the side of the bed where he let Castiel lay down. He was still wrapped in the blankets he came in because they had nothing else to put him in yet, but he did not seem to mind. Dean watched as he fiddled with the edges of the sheets and tried to suck on his toes. He had to admit, he was damn adorable. Sam was still out getting some diapers, food, and other things they would need while Dean watched over him.

“Try not to get drool all over the bed, you hear me?” Dean teased. Castiel looked up at him and giggled. “You know, you’re a pretty happy baby, Cas. I mean, sure I’ve only had you for about an hour give or take, but you haven’t cried for a second. Keep it up, makes things hell of a lot easier for us.”

Castiel smiled and proceed to put as many toes as he could into his mouth. Dean smiled as he watched him. He was glad that he was alive and well and he was glad that he was happy, but there were thoughts that lingered in the back of his mind that he tried not to think about. His thoughts were interrupted when his younger brother returned.

“Okay, I think this should last us for a few days at least. I got diapers, food, shampoo, and a few other things in here. Do you think you can get him into a diaper while I call Bobby?” Sam said, putting down the bags by the small table across from the beds.

Dean’s smile dropped as soon as Sam mentioned getting Castiel into a diaper. He knew it would be unavoidable, but it made him feel a little uncomfortable anyway. He decided to be mature about the situation though and just nodded at his brother.

“Ask him if he could get one of his spare bedrooms cleaned out,” Dean called to Sam as he picked up the new package of diapers, “He keeps a lot of stuff in there that would probably be dangerous for a kid to play with.”

“Got it,” Sam answered with the cell phone already to his ear. Despite the strange events and this incredibly strange situation, Sam was happy to see Dean so eager to take care of his friend. He was really showing that fatherly side to him that Sam had noticed many times before.

Dean pulled a fresh diaper out from the package and walked over to the bed. He then untangled Cas from the bundle of blankets that he was laying in and placed the diaper underneath him. Once he finished getting the diaper on him, he sat down beside him on the bed. He began to get nervous about how long they would be able to do this. He wanted to keep Cas close to him, but at the same time he wanted him to grow up differently than he and Sam had.

“Okay, thanks, Bobby,” Sam said before he hung up the phone and walked back over to Dean. “So Bobby has his feelings on the situation, he thinks it’s one of the weirdest, but he said we could take him back to his place. He’ll get a room cleared out later today and he even offered to pick up a few things at store if he has some time tomorrow before we get there.”

“Awesome,” Dean replied.

Sam sighed softly, “Dean…”

“I know, Sammy. I feel like this isn’t going to work either, but I’d rather try than just leave poor Cas on his own.”

Sam just nodded and began to go through the bags he brought back from the store. “Oh, I got some of that baby formula for him to drink. And I got a bottle somewhere in here too.”

“Oh, yeah, I wasn’t even thinking about that. So used to him not eating or drinking, but if he really isn’t an angel, which we aren’t even positive about, he’s probably really thirsty by now.”

Sam took the formula, put it into a small blue bottle and handed it to Dean. “You wanna feed him?”

“You can take care of him too, you know,” Dean said as he took the bottle and brought it back to the bedside.

“Yeah, well you seem to be more attached to him so I figured you would want to do that,” Sam teased.

“Shut up,” Dean retorted, but he was smiling a little as he spoke. He then sat down, picked Castiel up and gently moved him onto his lap. “I hope I’m doing this right,” he said through a nervous chuckle. He put the bottle near Castiel’s mouth and he immediately grabbed it and began to drink from it.

Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Guess he knew what to do already.”

“Yeah, whoa hold on, Cas, don’t drink so much at once,” Dean said, carefully pulling to the bottle out of his mouth. Castiel just looked up at Dean, his eyes big and watery. “Just…drink more slowly, okay?” Dean said giving him back the bottle as soon as he took it. Sam laughed as he watched, he wasn’t expecting Dean to be so quick to defeat.

\--

Castiel was taking a nap on his pile of blankets when Dean went back over to Sam. It was getting late and they had decided to leave the next morning to Bobby’s.

“Do you want to take shifts or something?” Sam asked.

“What?”

“During the night, do you want to take shifts sleeping?”

“Oh, well, I could just watch him as long as you are okay driving tomorrow. I mean, he’s not crying or anything so it’s just a matter of making sure he’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I was thinking about calling that Samandriel angel too. I just want to ask about details and whatnot. Now that I think about it, he really didn’t tell us anything. I was just too surprised at the time to notice.”

“You want me up for that? We could do that now.”

“No, it’s fine. You need to be alert for the drive tomorrow.”

“Okay, well that’s fine with me,” Sam said, as he went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Dean just sat down in the chair that he placed close by the beds. He looked over at Cas sleeping peacefully and all the questions began to race around his mind at once. He needed to ask Samandriel so many things, but, though he would not admit it, he was kind of afraid to know the answer to some of them.

\--

Cas was asleep and now Sam was too. Dean took a sip from his beer and then set it down on the floor. He decided not to delay this any longer. He prayed to Samandriel and before he knew it, he heard that sound that was all too familiar to him.

“Hello, how are you two holding up?” the angel asked.

“Not too terribly. I have to ask you some questions though. There are some things that I feel I really just need an answer to,” Dean said, making sure to talk quietly. He got up from his seat and moved farther away from the beds. Samandriel followed.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Okay, I’m not going to beat around the bush, why is Cas a baby? Is there some specific reason for this, is it temporary or permanent?”

The angel took a deep breath before he spoke again. “There is a reason for it. You see, Cas was given the chance to live a new life. Or rather, it would be better to say he was given a new life. And he agreed to this too, he just has no memory of doing so.”

“So you’re saying he just chose to be a baby?”

“He was given the choice of whether or not he wanted to live a life as a human with the people he loves most. He willingly gave up his grace in order to become a human child. However, he is not completely human yet. Some of his grace still remains and his soul is…incomplete. He will not completely have a soul until all of his grace leaves him.”

Dean tried to take in all of the new information. It just seemed very unreal and he wondered why Cas never said anything to them before he made this choice. He never even mentioned wanting to be human before. Then again, Dean thought, Cas never really talked about himself, much less how he felt or what he was thinking.

“So, when will the rest of his grace go away?”

“As he grows, he will age much more rapidly than a human child because of this, but that aspect was intentional. He wanted to be the same age as you thought of him as, as his vessel Jimmy was, sooner rather than later. It puts more of a strain on his body, but with a part of his grace still inside, it can be done. Then once he reaches that age he wanted, the last bit of his grace will leave him and once that happens, his human soul will complete itself.”

Dean remained silent. This scenario that they all got involved in suddenly started to make sense and it actually seemed kind of nice. It sounded like it could actually have a good ending. Sure, Cas would lose all of his mojo and stuff, but if he wanted to be human, then this seems like the best way for that to happen. More work for him, Sam, and Bobby, but it’d be worth it in the long run. Dean could feel the smile form on his face, when suddenly it hit him.

“Will Cas remember anything from before? Will he just see us as his parents?” As soon as the words left Dean’s mouth, it seemed like a real possibility. The fear he felt nearly suffocated him. He knew the situation would be good to Cas, but it would be horrible for him if Castiel was no longer the same Castiel.

Samandriel, seeming to read Dean’s fears, placed his hand gently on the hunter’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Dean. Castiel actually had the same fear. Even though he wishes he could forget all of the horrible things that he did over the years, he would rather keep those memories than lose the good memories he made over the years with you and Sam. So we took care of that, don’t worry. He won’t remember everything until the last of his grace is gone, but he will gradually remember more as he grows.”

Dean smiled and sighed in relief. He was glad that things actually might be okay for once.

“Is there anything else?” the angel asked, though he was pretty sure Dean was out of questions.

“No, I think I know everything I need to know for now. Thanks, Samandriel,” he responded.

“No problem,” he said, disappearing. He was going to remind him to take good care of Castiel, but he did not bother because he knew that he would.

After Samandriel left, Dean went back over to Castiel’s bed. He sat on the edge and leaned over to fix the blanket that had fallen to the side.

“Thanks, Cas. I’ll try not to let you down.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm leaving this as a Gen fic for now, but I may have eventual Dean/Cas when he is older. At this point I'm unsure though. I'm going to wait and see how things go in the story and what you guys as readers think, too. Thank you for reading! And I hope you enjoyed it. :)


End file.
